Monday, September 3, 2018

The Pilates ring is a versatile piece of equipment that can be incorporated into many traditional Pilates exercises to make them more challenging for the core. Exercises can be performed for both the arms and legs, and all exercises challenge the core in some way. In the following article I will explain some of the exercises that can be performed to help strengthen and tone the arms and legs.

Firstly for the arm exercises. Many traditional gym exercises can be performed with the Pilates circle. The bicep curl, the most common upper arm strengthening exercise can be done with the circle. The starting position can be either standing or kneeling. Hold onto the ring on either side with your arms straight down in front of you. Apply a moderate to strong force squeezing the circle between your arms. Maintain this squeeze and perform the bicep curl movement. You should feel similar resistance in your biceps as you would when lifting weights doing a dumbel curl.

Another exercise that can be performed with the ring is a isometric pec squeeze. Start off standing or sitting with both arms straight out in front of you. Hold the circle between your outstretched hands and squeeze the end together as hard as you can. As you squeeze you should feel your pectoral muscles working.

The legs can also be exercised using the pilates circle. A great unique exercise to the pilates ring is the modified bridge. Traditionally the bridge exercise targets the gluteal and hamstring muscles. By adding a ring to the exercise the adductor muscles can also be targeted. The starting position is the same as you would with the traditional bridge, lying on your back with feet flat on the floor, knees bent to about 90 degrees. Place the ring between your thighs, just above the knees and squeeze you knees together firmly as you complete the exercise.

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Sciatica pain can be an uncomfortable condition, created through pressure on the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body and runs from the lower back down both legs. The pain can be felt in the lower back, butt, legs or feet and can be a dull ache, a tingle, a numb feeling or acute pain. The severity of the pain is largely dependent upon the amount of irritation and damage caused to the sciatic nerve.

Sciatica pain can be caused by a number of conditions, such as spinal misalignment, slipped disc, injury to the hips, Piriformis syndrome (Piriformis is a muscle that runs from the lower back to the hip bone, and runs across the sciatic nerve). Pregnancy, a tumor, spinal stenosis and spondylolisthesis may also cause the same symptoms.

Pain can become worse with certain movements, here are the most common ones:

There are many symptoms that can indicate Sciatica; here are some of the most common:

• Sharp pain particularly in the lower back, possibly also in the hip, down the leg or in the foot;
• Weakness, numbness (as if the leg has gone to sleep) difficulty putting weight on the leg through
discomfort;

The sciatica pain symptoms are typically experienced only on one side of the body, and the pain may be continual or it may occur infrequently and 'flare ups' are experienced.

Easy And Quick Fixes For Sciatica Pain

Sciatica Treatment

Sciatica causes are numerous and therefore there are an equal number of treatments for each. There are a large number of treatments that can one can attempt to try to relieve pain quickly. To be safe, anyone feeling pain from what they suspect is Sciatica should consult a medical practitioner to ensure that there are no serious issues that need to be resolved first.

• To take down the swelling caused by irritation to the sciatic nerve, ice should be applied to the painful area, for example the lower back. Keep applying the ice packs once the pain builds back up (Approximately every hour or so). Applying heat at this point will relax the muscles, but may also increase the swelling once again, so use only if helpful;

• Rest can be good to a point so that no further injury occurs and the swelling goes down. However too much rest and your back and muscles may seize up, so make sure you do some light exercise such as walking for 30 minutes a day if you can do (straight after the incident this might not be possible);

• Stretching of the lower back, and piriformis muscles, including stretching of the hamstrings;

• Exercises may be undertaken to retrain the muscles to better support the spine through greater strength in the core muscles (the back and abdominal muscles)

• Avoid lifting heavy items, and if you do have to lift anything, ensure that you keep your back straight and lift with the legs

Pain Relief Medicines

You can take pain relief medicines if the pain is really bad, but remember that the pain is your body telling you that something is not right, and you should be capable of taking notice of that fact too, otherwise you could make things worse.

Medicines such as ibuprofen to take the swelling down and relieve localized pain, also Aspirin can be used to relieve pain. Since medicines do not in any way address the problem, we recommend that you only take them for a short period of time, and attempt other forms of rehabilitation such as exercises and stretching or other forms of therapy.

Chiropractor

A chiropractor may be able to help you to relieve short-term pain, as well as helping you back to heal in such a way, so as the painful episode may not return. A chiropractor does this by re-aligning the spine, so that it moves back toward the s curve that it should be. When the back is in its natural curved form, it can more ably handle loads, can bend and twist more easily in all directions, and should not pinch nerves since ultimately the discs should return to being equally spaced once more. The short term relief will be due to the vertebra being freed up, so that they are no longer stiff, and held in an uncomfortable or nerve trapping location. These corrections will initially not hold for long before another adjustment is required, but over time will last longer and longer, as your back becomes the shape that it should be.

Physical Therapy

Physical Therapy is another therapy that you might consider that can consist of massage, stretches and exercises that will help to make your joints move in the way that they should do. The massage from a physical therapist is highly likely to provide really good relief from the immediate issues, however if the spine is misaligned, the problem will still exist. Some of the therapies offered may also assist with the body healing itself, and so can be very worthwhile in getting you healthy once more.

Surgical Procedures

When Sciatica pain cannot be relieved by the above measures than surgery is recommended, but only when all other options have failed. You should discuss the options for surgery with your medical practitioner. Note that there are other therapies available which may assist with recovery before surgery is considered but there are more likely to offer temporary relieve of severe problems rather than being a permanent relief. Pain may also be associated with the brain, and therefore it may be that a neurologist can provide a better prognosis than being operated on. These situations are specific to the patient; the problem causing the sciatica may be due to a bigger problem with the spine, which will have its own particular solution.